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Georgia, Gazprom Discuss Gas Price Hike

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  • Georgia, Gazprom Discuss Gas Price Hike

    Georgia, Gazprom Discuss Gas Price Hike
    By MISHA DZHINDZHIKASHVILI

    Nov. 3, 2006, 12:53PM
    Associated Press Writer
    © 2006 The Associated Press

    TBILISI, Georgia -- Georgia said Friday it was trying to persuade
    Russian state gas monopoly Gazprom to reconsider its decision to
    more than double the price for gas supplies, but would also seek to
    diversify its energy imports.

    Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Nogaideli told a Cabinet meeting that
    the price hike was obviously political because other former Soviet
    nations were paying far less. A day earlier, Georgia's foreign
    minister said the new rate was "the price we pay for our choice"
    of a pro-Western path.

    OAO Gazprom said Thursday it plans to charge Tbilisi $230 per
    1,000 cubic meters of gas, compared with the $110 that it pays now,
    increasing economic pressure against Moscow's small southern neighbor.

    Nogaideli pointed out that Ukraine got a price of $130 for next year
    and Armenia $110, and some European Union nations paid less than
    $230, an apparent reference to the three Baltic states. He said that
    Georgian officials were talking to Gazprom hoping to reduce the price
    it requested.

    Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili criticized the planned increase
    but played down its potential effects. "I don't expect any catastrophe,
    but certainly it's a bad precedent for everybody. Energy cannot
    and should not become a political tool," he said during a terrorism
    conference in Monaco.

    Energy Minister Nika Gilauri said that talks were taking place with
    Azerbaijan, Iran and Turkey to secure alternative supplies of gas.
    Analysts in Georgia warned of a repeat of the gas war between Russia
    and Ukraine at the start of this year when Gazprom cut off supplies.

    That stoppage, amid fierce negotiations over a higher price demanded by
    Gazprom, was seen as punishment for Ukraine's pro-Western policies. It
    also briefly interrupted deliveries to Europe, sending lasting shock
    waves through the European Union nations already wary of overdependence
    on Russian energy supplies.

    Ukraine, which finally agreed to pay almost double at $95 per 1,000
    cubic meters, has since managed to limit the increase for 2007 to $130
    after Russian-leaning Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych took over as
    head of government in the wake of his party's success in March polls.

    Neighboring Belarus faces a fourfold rise in gas prices, although
    Gazprom is believed to be willing to compromise if the country hands
    over 50 percent of the state pipeline through which Russian gas
    transits to western Europe.

    "Russia is increasingly using the energy weapon for political reasons,"
    said Georgian political analyst Ramaz Sakvarelidze. "There is only
    one aim, to punish Georgia for its policy of integration with NATO
    and European structures."

    --Boundary_(ID_YhNcMp+Z2hzWIOr3 875VTQ)--
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